Method for providing address change notification in an electronic message forwarding system

ABSTRACT

A method and system for providing address change notification in an e-mail forwarding system by providing a pre-generated e-mail address change notification to recipients selected during registration in the e-mail forwarding system. The e-mail forwarding system operating when a message is received at an e-mail forwarding computer, the message identifying the first disfavored e-mail address. The e-mail forwarding computer parses the first e-mail address from the message to determine if there is a second preferred forwarding e-mail address associated with the first e-mail address. If there is a second e-mail address associated with the first e-mail address, the e-mail forwarding computer sends the e-mail message to a third computer associated with the second e-mail address.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of commonly owned, co-pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/994,357, filed Nov. 26, 2001 (AttorneyDocket No. F-323), which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety. This application is related to the following applications:Ser. No. 09/629,909, titled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FORWARDING ELECTRONICMESSAGES, filed Jul. 31, 2000; Ser. No. 09/629,911, titled DYNAMICELECTRONIC FORWARDING SYSTEM, filed Jul. 31, 2000; Ser. No. 09/629,904,titled E-MAIL FORWARDING SYSTEM HAVING ARCHIVAL DATABASE, filed Jul. 31,2000; Ser. No. 09/648,576, titled REMOTE E-MAIL FORWARDING SYSTEM, filedAug. 28, 2000; Ser. No. 09/751,490, titled SYSTEM AND METHOD FORCLEANSING ADDRESSES FOR ELECTRONIC MESSAGES, filed Dec. 28, 2000; Ser.No. 09/750,952, titled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CLEANSING ADDRESSES FORELECTRONIC MESSAGES, filed Dec. 28, 2000; and Ser. No. 09/920,059 titledSYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FORWARDING ELECTRONIC MESSAGES, filed Aug. 1,2001. The disclosures for each of the applications listed above arehereby expressly incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method for providingaddress change notification to correspondents in connection with ane-mail forwarding system. The e-mail forwarding system forwards e-mailmessages intended to be initially delivered to an obsolete or disfavoredaddress to a chosen forwarding address associated with the obsolete ordisfavored e-mail address.

BACKGROUND

Recent advances in telecommunications networks have drastically alteredthe manner in which people interact and conduct business. These advancespromote efficiency and convenience in one's ability to receive importantinformation. With this in mind, individuals and businesses today findthat their physical and electronic addresses are changing faster thanever with increased mobility and competing message delivery services.Deregulation and privatization of the global postal systems, competingpackage delivery services, and rapid growth of multiple competingelectronic mail (e-mail) systems are creating an environment in whichthere is no single point of contact for address correction as there waswhen the sole messaging provider was the national postal service.

Users who enjoy the benefit of sending and receiving e-mail messagestypically subscribe to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) offering suche-mail capabilities (e.g., America Online (AOL), Netcom, and Redconnect)and/or may subscribe to an internet based e-mail service (e.g., juno,rocketmail, yahoo) which each is associated with a particular e-mailaddress. Thus, the e-mail address is unique to the e-mail serviceprovider. The uniqueness of an address to a selected provider is oftenapparent on the face of the address, e.g., DQuine@aol.com,Quine@juno.com or DouglasQuine@yahoo.com. A user or subscriber to aparticular e-mail service may from time to time desire or need to changeservice providers (e.g., from DQuine@aol.com to QuineDo@pb.com).Exemplary motivation for these changes may derive from the fact that analternative service provider charges lower rates, or the existingprovider's inability to upgrade its service.

A user who desires to change from one e-mail service provider to anothersuddenly faces the reality of being bound to the old service providerbecause the user's address is unique to that one provider. A sudden andcomplete changeover is in many circumstances impossible because thecommunity of people who wish to send electronic messages to the user areonly aware that the old address exists. For example, an e-mail addressmay be published in an industry directory that is only published onceevery year or two years. Alternatively, the e-mail address may beprinted on a business card which cannot be retracted and corrected.Thus, the user incurs a potentially significant loss of prospectivebusiness by abandoning the old address.

Currently, there is no effective means in place for address correctionof e-mail addresses. Even if the e-mail sender is highly diligent, thereare no resources or processes available to identify corrected electronicaddress information. The problem is further accentuated by the fact thatextreme competition in internet service providers, and likewise e-mailservice providers, results in extremely high obsolesce of e-mailaddresses with no means for e-mail forwarding (e.g., closing an AOLe-mail account provides no option for forwarding e-mail intended forthat account to a new e-mail address).

Further, today's web savvy users may have multiple e-mail addresseswhich periodically change as new features develop or are lost. Entiredomain names can be lost (e.g., lostdomain.com) and all mail directedthere may be lost as well. In either case, typically the MAIL DAEMONmessage is returned to the sender, notifying the sender that the e-mailaddress cannot be found and e-mail message is being returned to thesender.

Some service providers offer their user-subscribers the option of amessage forwarding service. These forwarding services operate byreceiving the incoming message, retrieving the portion of the incomingmessage that identifies a selected user who subscribes to the forwardingservice, associating the selected user with a forwarding address throughthe use of a lookup table, and transmitting the message to theforwarding address. The forwarding services differ from the normalmessage delivery service that the central service provider offersbecause a portion of the forwarding address belongs to another centralservice provider. Thus, the forwarded message is actually delivered toits intended recipient by the other or second service provider, i.e.,the forwarded message passes through two central service providers, asopposed to just one provider. The intended message recipient is free tochange the second provider with regularity provided that the recipientalways informs the forwarding service of each change in the secondprovider. However, this message forwarding system only works with viablee-mail address, that is, the e-mail address associated with the firstservice provider must still be active and not obsolete. In fact, fewe-mail services offer forwarding services and few, if any, offer toforward e-mail after the account is closed. Otherwise, the first serviceprovider is only enabled to send the later mentioned MAIL DAEMON messageback to the original sender of the e-mail message.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention relates to a method and system forforwarding an e-mail message intended to be delivered to a disfavorede-mail address to an associated forwarding e-mail address. The presentinvention also provides a means to inform potential senders of e-mailthat the e-mail address owner has changed his or her e-mail address, andto make the e-mail forwarding system more effective by recruiting moresubscribers.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention will be utilized by ane-mail addressee who wishes to have e-mail forwarded from adisfavored/obsolete/defunct e-mail address to a forwarding e-mailaddress, for any of the reasons discussed above. Accordingly, the e-mailaddressee must first become a subscriber to a service that provides thefunctionality of the present invention, as described further below. Tobecome a subscriber the e-mail addressee must provide the e-mailforwarding service with the disfavored address from which e-mail is tobe forwarded, and the new address to which the forwarded e-mail will besent. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, thistransaction is handled via an INTERNET web page interface.

As an additional feature of the present invention, at the time a newsubscriber is providing the information about the disfavored andforwarding e-mail addresses, the new subscriber will also be providedwith a prompt offering the opportunity to send out a pre-generated formnotification to immediately inform selected correspondents of the e-mailaddress change. By directly informing selected correspondents of thechange, electronic messages from those selected correspondents may notbe subject to the extra verifying steps and privacy features that areimplemented in the e-mail forwarding portion of the present invention,as described below. Such a form notification can also inform theselected correspondents about the service provided by the presentinvention, which in turn may enhance the utility of the presentinvention by increasing the quantity of subscribers and e-mail addressesfor which forwarding services can be performed.

To implement the present invention, a subscriber registers thedisfavored and forwarding e-mail addresses with an e-mail forwardingcomputer, the e-mail forwarding computer having its own third e-mailaddress. The e-mail forwarding computer is programmable to associate thedisfavored e-mail addresses with forwarding e-mail addresses.

In a first embodiment implementing the invention, undeliverable e-mailis returned to the sender and is then redirected to the e-mailforwarding computer, with a third e-mail address (or Internet address),for correction. In another embodiment, the mail servers or ISP routersserving the undeliverable mail may direct the undeliverable mailautomatically to the e-mail forwarding computer, with a third e-mailaddress (or Internet address) for correction.

In the first embodiment, a message sending user sends an e-mail messageto a first e-mail address. If the first e-mail address is obsolete, orotherwise undeliverable, the message is often returned to the user withan indication that it is undeliverable. When this e-mail message isreturned to the user, the user resends the undeliverable e-mail,originally addressed to the first e-mail address, to a third e-mailaddress for a remote e-mail forwarding computer that is capable offorwarding the e-mail message to a second e-mail address. The forwardingcomputer receives the e-mail message and parses the first e-mail addressfrom the e-mail message to determine if there is a second e-mail addressassociated with the first e-mail address. If there is a second e-mailaddress associated with the first e-mail address, the forwardingcomputer sends the e-mail message to the second associated e-mailaddress.

If the e-mail forwarding computer is unable to find a match for thedisfavored e-mail address, it preferably stores in an archival databaseat least the disfavored e-mail address (and ideally also the sender'saddress, date, and message text). The forwarding computer thensubsequently checks after new subscribers register for the services ofthe forwarding computer, and determines whether a forwarding e-mailaddress has been associated with the unmatched e-mail address. If thereis such a match, the remote computer than sends at least a message tothe forwarding address that a sender at a sender's e-mail address hasattempted to send a message. Alternatively, the forwarding computer cansend a message to the sender indicating that a forwarding address hasnot been associated with the previously unmatched undeliverable address.

As an alternative embodiment, rather than having the message senderforward the undeliverable e-mail to the forwarding computer. A domainowner for the domain identified in the undeliverable e-mail address mayconfigure its e-mail server to automatically forward undeliverable mailitems to the forwarding computer. For example, an ISP, such as AOL(owning aol.com), can assist in more efficiently delivering messages tothe appropriate e-mail address by redirecting undeliverable messages tothe third party registry of e-mail addresses and correspondingforwarding addresses included in the forwarding computer. Thus, theforwarding computer could serve as a neutral point of contact betweencompeting ISPs, and the competing ISPs need not share any informationwith each other about their customers.

Thus, an advantage of the present invention is that there is little orno cooperation needed from the e-mail server associated with thedisfavored e-mail address. That is, if an e-mail address becomesdisfavored (it is no longer an active e-mail address) either because theassociated e-mail server ceases to exist, or the e-mail account has beenleft abandoned for a host of reasons, the present invention e-mailforwarding system nevertheless operates. Also, the present invention canoffer additional enhanced functionality by obtaining minimally invasivecooperation from the e-mail server associated with the disfavored e-mailaddress. An additional benefit is that when an e-mail message isforwarded by the present invention, the privacy of the recipient isprotected because the e-mail sender of the e-mail message is preferablynot notified of the recipient's forwarding address. The recipient maychoose to whom he or she wishes to send the corrected e-mail address.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome more readily apparent upon consideration of the followingdetailed description, taken in conjunction with accompanying drawings,in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout thedrawings and in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an electronic e-mail messaging system embodying thepresent invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 depict flowcharts depicting the e-mail forwardingoperation of the present invention;

FIG. 4 depicts a look-up table used by the present invention;

FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C depict e-mail messages illustrating the operabilityof the e-mail messaging system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 depicts a look-up table having dynamic parameters in accordancewith the present invention;

FIG. 7 depict a preferred INTERNET registration interface.

FIGS. 8A and 8B depict an exemplary e-mail address change notificationmessages;

FIG. 9 depicts an exemplary address change notification recipient entryinterface;

FIG. 10 a flow chart illustrating the steps taken by the presentinvention e-mail forwarding system for archiving requests for forwardingundeliverable e-mail;

FIG. 11 depicts an embodiment for automatic directing of undeliverablemessages to the e-mail forwarding system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 schematically depicts a conventional INTERNET telecommunicationssystem 10. The FIG. 1 system is exemplary in nature. The presentinvention can be implemented as program control features onsubstantially all telecommunications service provider systems, andsystem 10 is intended to represent any operable telecommunicationssystem that is used by any telecommunications service provider inconducting communication operations (e.g., facsimile, pager, mobilephone and PDA computers).

It is to be appreciated that the term “INTERNET” is well known in theart as designating a specific global international computer network thatoperates according to the TCP-IP protocol. A portion of the INTERNETreceives or has in the past received funding from various United Statesgovernmental agencies including ARPA, NSF, NASA, and DOE. INTERNETcommunications protocols are promulgated by the Internet EngineeringTask Force, according to standards that are currently set forth in RFC1602.

Telecommunications system 10 includes a plurality of user or signalorigination sites 12, 14 and 16, with each site being depicted inreference to a PC capable of generating and transmitting e-mailmessages, wherein each site 12, 14 and 16 corresponds to a specifictelecommunications address. A user may utilize one site or a pluralityof sites. A single city or local service area may have millions of thesesignal origination sites. Each site 12, 14 and 16 corresponds to atelecommunication address that belongs to an individual, business, andother entity having need to avail themselves of telecommunicationsservices.

It is to be understood that preferably each origination site 12, 14 and16 feeds its signal (addressed to a subscriber identified at a selectedservice provider) to an internet service provider 18 (ISP), which inturn preferably feeds the signal to a local router node 20 that directsthe local signal to a relay system, e.g., the INTERNET (conventionallydepicted as a cloud) 22, which transmits the signal to a router 24through a series of relays. The signal eventually arrives at an internetservice provider 26 through router 24.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, a plurality of destination sites 28, 30, 32,38, 40 and 42 are shown connected to internet service providers 26 and36 with each site being depicted in reference to a PC capable ofgenerating and transmitting e-mail messages, wherein each sitecorresponds to a specific telecommunications address. It is of course tobe appreciated that telecommunications system 10 includes a plurality ofrouters (e.g., routers 24 and 34 with each internet service providerbeing connected to a plurality of user sites (e.g., PC's 38, 40 and 42).It should also be appreciated that internet service providers 18, 26,36, and 48 may be a consumer subscription oriented ISPs, such as AOL, oran institutional e-mail communication service provided by a company toprovide e-mail for employees.

In accordance with the present invention, telecommunications system 10additional includes a messaging forwarding system 44, which as will befurther discussed below, enables e-mail messages to be automaticallyforwarded to a forwarding address, which forwarding address isassociated with a currently undeliverable e-mail address. Messagingforwarding system 44 preferably includes a PC 46 connected to aninternet service provider 48, which PC 46 is provided with a uniquee-mail address (corrections@emailangel.com) and software programmed toperform the below described steps necessary to operate the presentinvention e-mail forwarding system 44. PC 46 may have more than oneunique e-mail address. The different addresses may connect to varyingforwarding service that can be provided by forwarding system 44, and toreceive different formats of submissions to forwarding system 44.Internet service provider 48 is preferably connected to INTERNET 22 viarouter 50. It will be understood by those skilled in the art thatmessage forwarding system 44 may include any suitable computerprocessing device as an alternative to PC 46.

As shown in FIG. 4, system 44 includes a software program that includesa look-up table 50, which is programmable to provide an e-mailforwarding address 52 associated with pre-programmed defunct(undeliverable) e-mail address[es] 54. It is to be appreciated that thelook-up table 50 of system 44 may be accessed or programmed through anyconventional known means, including via the internet 22 in which a userat PC site 28 accesses the look-up table 50 in system 44, via theinternet 22, via routers 24 and 50, and internet service providers 26and 48. Look-up table 50 may include a plurality of defunct subscriberaddresses,(54+N), with each defunct address being associated with one ormore forwarding addresses (52+M)

It is to be appreciated that in this description of the presentinvention system 44, mention is made to both a “user” and “subscriber”of system 44. It is to be understood that a “user” of system 44 refersto anyone who is capable of transmitting an e-mail message and accessessystem 44 when it is desired to forward the message to a forwardingaddress, which forwarding address the user is unaware of. A user mayalso be referred to as a “sender” of an e-mail. A “subscriber” of system44 refers to anyone who subscribes to the e-mail forwarding service ofsystem 44 in which the subscriber registers both a defunct e-mailaddress 54 and at least one e-mail forwarding address 52 with system 44.A subscriber may also be referred to as a “recipient” of an e-mail usingthe present invention. E-mail forwarding system 44 is accessible by anyuser.

In illustration, if a subscriber of system 44 closes an e-mail account(e.g., user@oldaccount.com) for whatever reason, the subscriber maystill desire to continue to receive messages sent to that address (e.g.,user@oldaccount.com), but now wants to receive those messages at adifferent account (e.g., subscriber@newaccount.com). In the prior art,to accomplish this the subscriber had to resort to informing everyonewho had the old e-mail address (e.g., user@oldaccount.com) of the newe-mail address (e.g., subscriber@newaccount.com). In accordance with thepresent invention, the subscriber accesses the subscriber's designatedaccount in system 44, via any known means such as the internet,registers the defunct e-mail address (e.g., user@oldaccount.com) andassociates it with a desired forwarding e-mail address (e.g.,subscriber@newaccount.com). Thus when a sender of an e-mail desires totransmit a message to a subscriber of system 44 but only knows thesubscriber's old e-mail address (e.g., user@oldaccount.com), whichaccount is no longer active, the user now merely looks to system 44 toforward the message to an active account (e.g.,subscriber@newaccount.com), as will be discussed further below.

In the preferred embodiment, a new subscriber registers by providing thenew e-mail address information and old e-mail address information via anINTERNET web page interface such as the one depicted in FIG. 7. Thesubscriber enters the new e-mail address to which forwarded messageswill be sent in entry field 705. The subscriber may then identify one ormore disfavored/defunct e-mail addresses in entry fields 706, of whichthere are six shown in the embodiment in FIG. 7. When all of theappropriate information has been entered into the fields, the subscriberthen presses the “Register Me” button 707, to complete the transaction.

The registration process also includes a prompt offering the newsubscriber an opportunity to send a pre-generated notification 901 (FIG.8A) to selected correspondents notifying them of the change from thedisfavored address to the new address. If the subscriber elects to sendthe pre-generated notifications 901, the user can enter the e-mailaddresses for the selected recipients in fields on a further INTERNETweb page interface depicted in FIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 9, thesubscriber may enter a plurality of addresses for notificationrecipients in fields 113. Alternatively, recipients may be selected fromthe subscribers e-mail address book by pushing the “Select from youaddress book” button 114. When the user is finished identifyingrecipients for the notification 901, then the “submit” button 115 may beselected.

Preferably each selected recipient will receive a separate copy, or ablind copy, of the pre-generated notification, so as to maintain privacybetween recipients, and to prevent a long list of recipients. Byselecting button 114, the subscriber can is given the option of sendingthe notifications to all of the correspondents in the subscriber'se-mail address book, or notifications to different categories ofrecipients (friends, work colleagues, etc.).

The notifications 901 to the selected correspondents preferably includean explanation 902 of the e-mail forwarding service provided inaccordance with the present invention, and possibly include instructionson how to become a subscriber. Preferably the notification 901 willinclude a button or a hot link 903 to allow the recipient to easilyaccess a registration interface, such as the one depicted in FIG. 8B.Preferably, prior to sending the notifications to the selectedrecipients, the e-mail forwarding system 44 will send a test message tothe new subscriber to confirm that the new address is correct.

The pre-generated notifications 901 compliment the e-mail forwardingaspects of the present invention by allowing selected correspondents tohave immediate access to the new e-mail address, while still providingthe e-mail forwarding services, which includes privacy features andother advantages as described herein. The notifications 901 also serveto encourage more of the e-mailing public to subscribe to the servicepursuant the present invention, thereby increasing the utility of theinvention by increasing the chances that a given e-mail can be correctlyforwarded to an appropriate recipient.

As indicated above, FIG. 1 is exemplary in nature, and those skilled inthe art understand that equivalent substitutions of system componentscan be made. For example, electrical communications over conductivetelephone lines, optical communications over optical fibers, radiocommunications, and microwave communications are substantiallyequivalent for purposes of the invention. Likewise, messages could berelayed through e-mail, facsimile, pager, PDA device or other capablecommunications system.

The method of use of system 44 will now be described with reference toFIGS. 2, 3 and 5 in conjunction with FIG. 1. Referring now to FIG. 2,when an email sender 14 desires to transmit a message to a recipient 30having a known e-mail address (e.g., quine@luv-npi.com) of therecipient, the sender 14 transmits the e-mail message 500 (FIG. 5 a)through conventional e-mail protocol, whereby the message is deliveredto the identified mail server 26 (e.g., luv-npi.com) of the recipient30, via the senders ISP server 18 (step 100). The recipient's 30 mailserver 26 then receives the e-mail message (step 102), and if the e-mailaccount is valid (e.g., quine@luv-npi.com) (step 104), the e-mailmessage is then accessible to the view and thus considered delivered(step 106). If the account is not a valid account (e.g.,quine@luv-npi.com) then the identified e-mail server 26 (e.g.,luv-npi.com) rejects the request (step 108) and sends a MAIL-DAEMONmessage 510 (FIG. 5 b) to the sender's 14 e-mail server 18 indicatingthat the message is not deliverable (step 110). The sender's e-mailserver 18 then sends a message to the sender 14 that the attached e-mailmessage is undeliverable.

Since the sender 14 cannot contact the recipient (e.g., quine) via thenow defunct e-mail address 54 (e.g., quine @luv-npi.com), the sender 14is presented with the problem of how to contact the recipient. In orderto overcome this problem, the present invention e-mail forwarding system44 provides a solution by forwarding the e-mail message to a new addressso long as the recipient 30 (e.g., quine) subscribes to the forwardingservice of the system 44. In the current illustrative example, therecipient (e.g., quine) registers the defunct e-mail address 54 (e.g.,quine @luv-npi.com) with the system 44 and instructs the system toforward all messages to a specified forwarding e-mail address 52 (e.g.,quine@docsense.com), as depicted in the look-up table of FIG. 4.

In a preferred embodiment as shown in FIG. 5C, the returned MAIL DAEMONmessage 510 may further include a text message 511 suggesting that theuser consider using an e-mail forwarding service, such as those offorwarding system 44, and provide information on how to submit theundeliverable message to the e-mail forwarding system 44.

Returning now to the sender's 14 situation in which the sender 14 stilldesires to transmit the e-mail message 500 but does not know the correcte-mail address. In accordance with the present invention, the sender 14now forwards the entire message 510 that was previously sent to theintended recipient's defunct e-mail address (e.g., quine@luv-npi.com),and rejected, to the e-mail address (e.g., corrections@emailangel.com)assigned to the e-mail forwarding system 44 (step 200). The e-mailserver 48 (e.g., emailangel.com) that received the message then informsthe forwarding system 44 of the receipt of this message and afterwardsthe forwarding system 44 receives the message from the e-mail server 48(step 202). The forwarding system 44 then parses message 510 andextracts the intended address for the recipient (e.g.,quine@luv-npi.com) from the message (step 204). The forwarding service44 then does a look-up in table 50 for the intended address (e.g.,quine@luv-npi.com) to determine if this address has been registered by asubscriber in the forwarding system 44 (step 206). If no, system 44sends an e-mail message back to the sender 14 informing the sender 14that the defunct address of the recipient 30 (e.g., quine@luv-npi.com)is not registered with the forwarding system 44 (step 208). If yes,forwarding system 44, sends the e-mail message 510 addressed to therecipients defunct address 54 (e.g., quine@luv-npi.com) to the recipientsubscriber's new e-mail address 52 (e.g., quine@docsense.com) asprescribed in the look-up table 50 of the forwarding system 44.Preferably, forwarding system 44 then sends an e-mail to the sender 14indicating that the message original addressed to a defunct e-mailaddress has now been properly forwarded. As will be discussed furtherherein, the forwarding service 44 may also hold, or offer to hold, acopy of the message for later delivery if the recipient subsequentlyregisters for the forwarding system 44.

In a preferred embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5C, the returnedundeliverable message 510 may include a link or a button 512 which theuser can activate to automatically transmit the undeliverable e-mail toforwarding system 44. Such a link or button 512 may include adesignation such as “FIX” or “SUBMIT TO FORWARDING SERVICE.” Such a linkor button 512 may be added into message 510 by using an hyperlink, aJava applet, or any conventional linking mechanism. The link or button512 may be included in message 510 by the ISP that returns theundeliverable message, or it may be included as an option in the user'se-mail browsing program that becomes available when an undeliverablemessage is received. The link or button 52 can be a downloaded applet tobe run with the user's e-mail application software. For purposes of thisembodiment, any kind of link or button may be interchangeable forproviding a convenient way for a user to access the service of thee-mail forwarding system 44.

In addition to the form of the message 510 specifically shown in FIGS.5B and 5C, the message from the user to the forwarding computer may takea variety of forms. As an alternative to forwarding the message returnedby the MAIL DAEMON, message 510 can be a forwarded copy of the of theoriginal message 500, or a new message indicating the undeliverableaddress in the subject line. Message 510 can alternatively be a newmessage that includes information identifying the rejected e-mailaddress and a desired message, possibly differing from the message inthe original rejected e-mail. Such a new message might be composed usinga predetermined template specifically designed to interact withforwarding system 44.

As a further alternative for submitting a message 510 to the forwardingsystem 44, an INTERNET web page could be used for submitting rejectede-mail addresses and messages. In such an INTERNET embodiment, the usercould access a web page that included input fields into which the usercould enter an e-mail address for which a forwarding address wasdesired, as well as any message to be forwarded. The information enteredby the user at the web page could then be sent to the forwarding system44.

Thus, a clear advantage of the present invention e-mail forwardingsystem 44 is that a sender merely forward a rejected e-mail message tothe e-mail address (e.g., corrections@emailangel.com) associated withthe forwarding system 44 to determine if the previously rejected messagecan be forwarded to a proper e-mail address. And if it can, theforwarding system automatically forwards the message to an e-mailaddress as prescribed by the recipient. Thus, a user of system merelyhas to forward a rejected e-mail message to forwarding system 44 toutilize its forwarding services. Therefore, no internet access isrequired, only access to an e-mail server is required which is quiteadvantageous since many e-mail users only have access to an e-mailserver and not an internet server, such as staff employees incorporations and home users who utilize free, or inexpensive e-mailservices. Furthermore, in contrast to directory services, the systemdesign preserves recipient privacy by not providing the new e-mailaddress to the sender.

In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the look-up tableof the e-mail forwarding system 44 may preferably have dynamicparameters in which a subscriber of system may have an account includingone or more disfavored e-mail addresses that are associated with one ormore forwarding e-mail addresses. For example, and with reference toFIG. 6, look-up table 60 is shown having three subscriber accounts 62,64 and 66. In account 62, a subscriber is shown to have listed threedisfavored e-mail addresses (e.g., doug@yahoo.com, doug@hotmail.com anddoug@obsolete.com) in association with a single forwarding e-mailaddress (e.g., doug@current.com). Thus, when a user of system 44 uses itto forward e-mail to anyone of the listed disfavored e-mail addresses(e.g., doug@yahoo.com, doug@hotmail.com and doug@obsolete.com) thesystem 44 automatically forwards the e-mail to the single prescribedforwarding e-mail address (e.g., doug@current.com) regardless of whichone the disfavored e-mail addresses (e.g., doug@yahoo.com,doug@hotmail.com and doug@obsolete.com) the e-mail message was intendedfor.

With reference to account 64, a subscriber is shown to have listed asingle disfavored e-mail address (e.g., doug@obsolete.com) inassociation with three forwarding e-mail addresses (e.g., doug@work.com,doug@home.com and doug@wireless.com). Now, when a user of system 44 usesit to forward e-mail intended for the listed single disfavored e-mailaddress (e.g., doug@obsolete.com), the system 44 automatically forwardsthe e-mail message to each one of the prescribed e-mail addresses (e.g.,doug@work.com, doug@home.com and doug@wireless.com).

Referring now to account 66, a subscriber is shown to have listed threedisfavored e-mail addresses (e.g., doug@yahoo.com, doug@hotmail.com anddoug@obsolete.com) in association with three forwarding e-mail addresses(e.g., doug@work.com, doug@home.com and doug@wireless.com). Thus, when auser of system 44 uses it to forward e-mail to anyone of the listeddisfavored e-mail addresses (e.g., doug@yahoo.com, doug@hotmail.com anddoug@obsolete.com), the system 44 automatically forwards the e-mailmessage to each one of the prescribed e-mail addresses (e.g.,doug@work.com, doug@home.com and doug@wireless.com).

Of course it is to be appreciated that a subscriber of system 44 maymaintain multiple accounts whereby a single subscriber may maintain eachof the previous described accounts 62, 64 and 66.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the e-mail forwardingsystem may be configured to include an archival database of unsuccessfulrequests for forwarding undeliverable e-mail messages. As was discussedabove in reference to FIG. 3, when the e-mail system 44 determines thatthere is no e-mail forwarding address in its look-up table 60 for adisfavored e-mail address (step 206), a notice is sent to the userindicating the non-inclusion of an e-mail forwarding address and thusthe e-mail message was not forwarded (step 208). One probable reason forthis situation is that the owner of the disfavored e-mail address neversubscribed to e-mail forwarding services of system 44. Thus, even ifthis owner shortly thereafter subscribes to the e-mail forwardingservices of system 44, the owner is never informed of this previousrequest and may consequently not receive e-mail messages of possiblesignificance to the subscriber.

However, this problem is solved by providing an archival database in thee-mail forwarding system 44, which database preferably stores parametersof unsuccessful requests for forwarding e-mail messages. Such parametersmay include any of those contained in the exemplary e-mail message ofFIG. 5 b as transmitted by a user to the e-mail forwarding system 44(e.g., To:Dquine@luv-npi.com and ChrisC@PB.com). Alternatively, thearchival database may contain all the parameters contained in the(e-mail message of FIG. 5B). The sender is advised that there is nocurrent registration available for this address but that the message maybe held pending a future registration at which time the message will bereleased to the recipient. The sender is given the option of allowingthe message to remain pending or the option of withdrawing the messageat any time before it is delivered (e.g. press reply on this message tocancel message delivery). This allows the sender to withdraw a messageif it becomes obsolete or moot.

With reference now to FIG. 10, after there has been a determination thatthere is no forwarding e-mail address (step 208), the e-mail forwardingsystem 44 archives parameters of the disfavored e-mail messagepreferably in a database implemented in the e-mail forwarding system 44(step 800). Next, after each subscriber registers a disfavored e-mailaddress with system 44, system 44 checks its aforesaid archival databaseto determine if there is a match between a newly registered disfavorede-mail address and an archived disfavored e-mail address (step 802). Ifyes (step 804), system 44 notifies the subscriber that there was alreadya previous request by a user of the system 44 to forward e-mail to thenewly registered disfavored e-mail address. System 44 may preferablynotify the subscriber of the requesting user's e-mail address as well asthe message that was attempted to be forwarded.

Alternatively, if there is such a match, system 44 may notify therequester, via e-mail, that a forwarding e-mail address has now beenregistered with the system that matches a previous request of the userand the user should once again use the services of system 44 to nowsuccessfully forward the e-mail message from a disfavored e-mail addressto a forwarding e-mail address. This is advantageous in that only aminimal amount of information needs to be stored in the archivaldatabase. Also, it gives the user the option of forwarding a messagesince a message may become moot after the passage of a certain amount oftime and thus the user may not want to forward such a message to thenewly registered disfavored e-mail address.

If there is no match for a particular new subscriber, system waits againfor a newly disfavored e-mail address to make the determination for amatch between a newly registered disfavored e-mail address and thosestored in the archival database (step 802).

Alternatively, the system 44 may be configured to make the determinationfor matches for newly registered disfavored e-mail address[es] and thosestored in the archival database after a passage of a prescribed periodof time (e.g., every: hour, day, week, month . . . etc.) and thus doesnot have to make such a determination each time a newly disfavorede-mail address is registered with the system 44.

In another alternative embodiment, the new registration need notidentify a disfavored address or a corresponding forwarding address.Undeliverable e-mail sent to a previously non-existent address can beautomatically held. Then when the new address is created and registeredwith the e-mail forwarding system 44, then the e-mail forwarding systemcan check to see whether there are any pending messages being held forthe previously non-existent address. Such an arrangement may be used ina situation where an organization such as a corporation registers all ofthe e-mail accounts under its control, and e-mail addresses for newemployees may be registered, even there is no disfavored address orforwarding address. As was noted previously, when a new employee joins acompany there is often a delay before an e-mail account can me opened.During the delay period, people who are aware of the new employee mayattempt to send e-mail messages. Where previously those prematuremessages might have been lost, under the current embodiment, thosemessages sent to the previously non-existent account can be archived andthen forwarded to the new employee when the account is activated andregistered.

In another embodiment of the invention, the server associated with theundeliverable e-mail address automatically sends the undeliverablee-mail to the forwarding system 44. To illustrate this embodiment, FIG.11 depicts a variation of the system shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 11,routers 20, 24, 34 and 50 and internet service providers 18 and 48 arenot shown for convenience, but may nevertheless be present in theembodiment described in this section. Arrows 110-115 depict conceptualpaths of various communications at different stages of the embodimentdescribed below. FIG. 11 also varies from FIG. 1 in that destinationsite 32 no longer has a valid e-mail address associated with ISP 26, asdepicted by the broken line between the two. Instead destination site 32has become associated with a different ISP 36 for which it has a newe-mail address. In accordance with the present invention, the owner ofdestination site 32 has registered with the forwarding system 44 toassociate the now defunct e-mail address for ISP 26 to the new e-mailaddress at ISP 36.

As shown in FIG. 11, a user at originating site 12 sends, via path 110,an e-mail intended for the recipient at destination site 32 but that isaddressed to the old defunct address at ISP 26. In accordance with thepresent embodiment, the e-mail server protocols at ISP 26 are modifiedto forward the undeliverable e-mail message to forwarding system 44 viapath 111.

As a further optional variation of this embodiment, the e-mailoriginated at the originating site 12 may include a flag indicatingwhether or not the user wishes to have the message automaticallyforwarded to the forwarding system 44 if the address turns out to beundeliverable. The protocols of ISP 26 can be modified to check the flagwhen the e-mail is undeliverable, to determine the sender's preference,and to forward or return the e-mail accordingly. The modification to theprotocols of ISP 26 may take a similar form to the known modification toimplement delivery confirmation functionality when e-mail includes aflag indicating the delivery confirmation is desired.

Once the undeliverable message has been sent to the forwarding system44, the forwarding system operates as described herein to determinewhether there is a forwarding address associated with the undeliverablee-mail. If there is an associated forwarding address, then theforwarding system 44 can send the e-mail to the appropriate address viapath 114.

However, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, the forwardingsystem 44 first communicates with the sender at originating site 12 viapath 112 informing the user whether a forwarding address has beenidentified. If a forwarding address has been found, the user maycommunicate via path 113 back to the forwarding system 44 indicatingwhether or not the sender desires to have the message forwarded.Forwarding system 44 is programmed such that if the user indicates thatthe e-mail should be forwarded then the e-mail is forwarded to the newaddress via path 114. Finally, a confirmation of the activities offorwarding system 44 with regard to the subject e-mail can sent back tothe user via path 115.

It should be noted that in this embodiment, and in any other embodiment,it is not necessary that ISP 26 and ISP 36 be different physicalservers. The invention is equally applicable to the situation where thenew forwarding address is associated with a disfavored address with thesame ISP. For example, the forwarding system 44 could act to associate aforwarding address, such as quinedo@pb.com, that was associated with adisfavored address, such as Douglas.quine@pb.com, both addresses beingserved by the Pitney Bowes company e-mail server.

In summary, an e-mail forwarding system having a dedicated e-mailaddress for automatically forwarding e-mail has been described. Althoughthe present invention has been described with emphasis on particularembodiments, it should be understood that the figures are forillustration of the exemplary embodiment of the invention and should notbe taken as limitations or thought to be the only means of carrying outthe invention. Further, it is contemplated that many changes andmodifications may be made to the invention without departing from thescope and spirit of the invention as disclosed.

1. A method for providing notification of an e-mail address change andforwarding messages to forwarding e-mail addresses, the methodcomprising the steps of: registering a plurality of subscribers for ane-mail forwarding service, the step of registering comprising:identifying disfavored e-mail addresses of the subscribers; identifyingforwarding e-mail addresses of the subscribers; identifying one or moree-mail address change notification recipients; sending a pre-generatede-mail address change notification to the identified one or more e-mailaddress change notification recipients; and providing a description ofthe e-mail forwarding service in the pre-generated e-mail address changenotification; associating the disfavored e-mail addresses with thecorresponding forwarding e-mail addresses in an e-mail forwardingcomputer; providing an electronic address for receiving messages at thee-mail forwarding computer, said messages relating to any of theplurality of disfavored e-mail addresses; receiving said messages at theelectronic address; identifying, with the e-mail forwarding computer, adisfavored e-mail address in a received message, the disfavored e-mailaddress being other than the electronic address for the e-mailforwarding computer; determining, with the e-mail forwarding computer, aforwarding e-mail address associated with the disfavored e-mail address;and forwarding at least a portion of the received message from thee-mail forwarding computer to the associated forwarding e-mail address.2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of registeringfurther comprises providing a link to a subscriber registrationinterface in the pre-generated e-mail address change notification. 3.The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of identifying one ormore e-mail address change notification recipients further comprisesselecting recipients from subscribers' e-mail address books.
 4. Themethod as recited in claim 1 wherein prior to the step of sending apre-generated e-mail address change notification there is a step ofsending a test message to confirm that the forwarding e-mail address iscorrect.
 5. A method for providing notification of an e-mail addresschange and forwarding messages to forwarding e-mail addresses, themethod comprising the steps of: registering a plurality of subscribersfor an e-mail forwarding service, the step of registering comprising:identifying disfavored e-mail addresses of the subscribers; identifyingforwarding e-mail addresses of the subscribers; identifying one or moree-mail address change notification recipients; sending a pre-generatede-mail address change notification to the identified one or more e-mailaddress change notification recipients; and providing a description ofthe e-mail forwarding service in the pre-generated e-mail address changenotification; associating the disfavored e-mail addresses with thecorresponding forwarding e-mail addresses in an e-mail forwardingcomputer; providing an electronic address for receiving messages at thee-mail forwarding computer, said messages relating to any of theplurality of disfavored e-mail addresses; receiving said messages at theelectronic address; identifying, with the e-mail forwarding computer, adisfavored e-mail address in a received message, the disfavored e-mailaddress being other than the electronic address for the e-mailforwarding computer; determining, with the e-mail forwarding computer, aforwarding e-mail address associated with the disfavored e-mail address;forwarding at least a portion of the received message from the e-mailforwarding computer to the associated forwarding e-mail address; andsending a message including confirmation data relating to the forwardingof the received message.
 6. The method as recited in claim 5 wherein thestep of registering further comprises providing a link to a subscriberregistration interface in the pre-generated e-mail address changenotification.
 7. The method as recited in claim 5 wherein the step ofidentifying one or more e-mail address change notification recipientsfurther comprises selecting recipients from subscribers' e-mail addressbooks.
 8. The method as recited in claim 5 wherein prior to the step ofsending a pre-generated e-mail address change notification there is astep of sending a test message to confirm that the forwarding e-mailaddress is correct.
 9. A method for providing notification of an e-mailaddress change and forwarding messages to forwarding e-mail addresses,the method comprising the steps of: registering a plurality ofsubscribers for an e-mail forwarding service, the step of registeringcomprising: identifying disfavored e-mail addresses of the subscribers;identifying forwarding e-mail addresses of the subscribers; identifyingone or more e-mail address change notification recipients; sending apre-generated e-mail address change notification to the identified oneor more e-mail address change notification recipients; and providing adescription of the e-mail forwarding service in the pre-generated e-mailaddress change notification; associating the disfavored e-mail addresseswith the corresponding forwarding e-mail addresses in an e-mailforwarding computer; providing an electronic address for receivingmessages at the e-mail forwarding computer, said messages relating toany of the plurality of disfavored e-mail addresses; receiving saidmessages at the electronic address; identifying, with the e-mailforwarding computer, a disfavored e-mail address in a received message,the disfavored e-mail address being other than the electronic addressfor the e-mail forwarding computer; determining, with the e-mailforwarding computer, a forwarding e-mail address associated with thedisfavored e-mail address; requesting permission to forward the receivedmessage from the sender; and if permission is received, forwarding atleast a portion of the received message from the e-mail forwardingcomputer to the associated forwarding e-mail address.
 10. The method asrecited in claim 9 wherein the step of registering further comprisesproviding a link to a subscriber registration interface in thepre-generated e-mail address change notification.
 11. The method asrecited in claim 9 wherein the step of identifying one or more e-mailaddress change notification recipients further comprises selectingrecipients from subscribers' e-mail address books.
 12. The method asrecited in claim 9 wherein prior to the step of sending a pre-generatede-mail address change notification there is a step of sending a testmessage to confirm that the forwarding e-mail address is correct.